Throughout Magic’s 32 long years of history, Wizards have created plenty of things that can be classed as iconic. The Power Nine are up there, of course, but Planeswalkers are in with a fair shout too. Even lands, like Dual Lands and Fetch Lands, are undeniably iconic within the MTG sphere.
While these lands have a special place within many players’ hearts, there’s no beating a basic land. They might not be powerful or even played that much anymore, but these lands are still a core part of MTG. That said, over the years, Wizards of the Coast has been tweaking their designs little by little.
Now, with full art basic lands all over the place, it looks like we’re on the crest of another tipping point. If some MTG players get their way, there’s a non-zero chance that traditional basic lands could go the way of the dodo.
Basic Basics Begone?
It’s no secret that Wizards of the Coast has been making more and more not-so-basic lands recently. While they used to only appear once in a blue moon, full-art basic lands now come packaged with every single set. The last time we didn’t get a Standard-legal set of full art basics with a set was way back in 2021, in fact.
Nowadays, it’s not even uncommon for an MTG set to have multiple full-art basic land treatments. Bloomburrow, in particular, pushed things to the extreme, giving each basic four unique full art variants, one for each season. Thanks to this ongoing trend, some MTG players have started to wonder which lands have priority.
Taking to Blogatog, Cassiesuccubus recently asked why default basic lands even exist at this point. Since every new set has full art basics, it doesn’t feel like a massive leap to make them the default. Thankfully, for anyone concerned, Rosewater essentially shut this down for now.
“Different players enjoy different layouts. Also, we tend to use full-art lands as part of Booster Fun.”
Mark Rosewater
While Rosewater didn’t give an emphatic answer one way or the other, it seems Wizards won’t be changing things. That said, it makes sense that players are wondering about this, given that full art lands seem like a strict upgrade. Since no flavor or rules text is being sacrificed, players simply get more art for nothing on full art cards.
Unlike the original full art cards from way back in 1998’s Unglued, new full art basics aren’t even expensive anymore. Original Un-Set full art basics might sell for $10, but new ones often sell for less than $1. Since these cards have lost their once chase nature, surely making them even more accessible is no bad thing.
Basic But Beautiful
Even if it theoretically makes sense for full art basic lands to be the default, many MTG players aren’t ready to give them up yet. In response to Cassiesuccubus’ post, several others reached out to show their support for basic basics. This led Mark Rosewater to assure these concerned players they’re not alone, making any change seem unlikely.
“Spudvatter: While I do like full art basics, I love the simplicity of normal basic lands. They’re somehow just easier for me to grok at a glance, and remind of my heydays.
Mark Rosewater: You are not alone.”
Via: Blogatog
Having been around since Magic’s inception, it’s no wonder that players don’t want basic basic lands to disappear. Outside of the updated card border, the style of these cards has remained basically unchanged over the decades. This might not make sense, but it still gives these cards an undeniable charm no matter where they’re played.
Beyond just being inherently charming, Spudvatter’s point about legibility is undeniably important, too. Some cycles of full art lands, like the Oil Slick and Venom lands, are incredibly difficult to distinguish from one another. Since basic basic lands don’t have this problem, getting rid of them could easily increase the visual complexity of MTG.
Will Anything Change?
Given that many MTG players seem very attached to this nostalgia, it seems very unlikely that default basic lands will go anywhere. That being said, we wouldn’t be surprised if Wizards does a more official poll or survey about this going forward. Basic basic lands might be loved on Blogatog, but that’s only a tiny fraction of the entire MTG playerbase.
Realistically, even if Wizards of the Coast decides to change something, it’s unlikely we’ll see basic basic lands disappear overnight. Instead, these cards would likely end up becoming chase variants that are found rarely in packs or exclusively in Collector Boosters. If such a change were to happen, nostalgia could potentially push the prices of these hypothetical cards surprisingly high.
Ultimately, while there is the potential for change in the future, nothing has been confirmed so far. That being said, it does look like we’ve already taken the first step down this path. The MTG Final Fantasy set, for instance, didn’t contain any non-full art basic lands. Potentially, this trend could continue, but there’s currently no guarantee of this happening.
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